4th blog of Mustache's kitten

The kitten has a strong will to live and thrive in this existence that we call life. Both my housemate and me forgot to feed it from 9 pm to 9 am this morning, but it was fine, happy, and hungry. We tried feeding it in the little bottle today and this time it figured it out and drank approximately two syringes worth of KMR. Isn't the attached picture of the kitten drinking of the bottle adorable. It sure was ready to fill up and it likes to claw at our hands when fed, and if its put on a lap, it crawls and claws quietly sucking on clothes. It crawls clumsily, and a little shaky as it tries to steady itself on surfaces. Sometimes when it crawls, it accidentally rolls on its back and then it has to get a claw in on a surface to get itself right side up again and the it crawls again. The kitten enjoys crawling all over the Gator teddy bear in its box and always sleeps either cuddled under an arm, between its legs, or behind it.

Mustache did a quick pass through, and I told him his kitten was fine. He went to a neighbors house and laid down on the porch to watch the growth of his kitten, but not interfere with it.

As to the care of kittens, it has be kept warm, so its double boxed (shoebox inside of a bigger box) and it gets to stay when its put in the shoebox in the warmest part of the place. Its definitely a Florida kitten. It was left with air conditioning facing it once and it was really cold and meowed, meowed, meowed, then it had to be held for a while to get it warm and it was happy again.

I'm hoping that this kitten means a new beginning, a fresh start, a chance to make a change.

3rd blog of Mustache's kitten

Today the kitten got to see its dad, Mustache. Mustache was in the back yard just looking up expecting to get news of his kitten, so my housemate took it out and I brought a camera out to take a picture of them together. Mustache gave the kitten a loving look, meowed, and looked at both my housemate and me satisfied that the kitten was healthy and happy. Then he went away and the kitten went back to the shoebox inside after a feeding, burping, and cleaning.

Later, I took pictures of my cat, Lil' One, laying next to the kitten. Lil' One was an abandoned cat who had had a litter of kittens, so I knew that she knew that it was a kitten and not a mouse that she was looking at next to her. Lil' One gave the kitten a lick and a look of understanding that cannot be put into words. From what I've read about raising a kitten, it's important to keep it away from other cats, since they might hurt it, so my advise to people that find kitthttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7563711205130397584ens is to follow it, unless they're sure that their cat will allow proximity and not get jealous or see the kitten as a threat.

2nd Blog of Mustache's Kitten

The kitten slept longer last night which made it easier, since it was getting up and meowing every couple of hours wanting to be fed. At 9:15 am, it got a bottle of KMR, a burping, a cleaning, and I put it back in its shoe box next to "The Gator teddy bear," its buddy. The kitten is a gator fan, just like me. :) I've thought of naming it Max, if it's male, and Maxine, if it's female. It looks a lot like Mustache...it's mostly black and has some white in spots such as a little on its back, belly, some of the face, and paws. If anyone has any suggestions as to other names for it, I'd welcome them. I measured the kitten today with my housemates help, since the kitten is a little wiggle worm. Its 4.5 inches.

I fed the kitten again at noon and then I went outside. There was Mustache, in the driveway, and I told him that the kitten was fine. He looked at me satisfied with my answer, and then walked away. I find it amazing that he comes around just to check on the kitten and has no interest in getting fed. The neighbor told me today that Mustache comes over every day to play gently with his grandchild and then goes off. Wow! Mustache is not only a great dad to kittens but a great playmate to children.

Since the kitten was found on Thursday, and it was probably born that morning, its one week birthday will be this Thursday. It's so exciting to see it grow every day and be a mom to this newborn kitten!

1st blog of Mustache's kitten

Hi,

My name is Teresa and this blog is dedicated to the memory of my mom.

On June 24, Mustache (a black and white male cat with white on his paws, upper lip, belly, and tip of his tail) was sitting next to a newborn kitten just watching it. It felt like he was looking for a home for his kitten. What a good daddy!! The newborn was crying, so full of compassion my housemate picked it up and called me over to see it. I washed him/her and found that there was blood on him/her and there was a piece of the umbilical cord still attached and fleas were everywhere. It's eyes were closed, it's ears were bent, it's tiny paws were perfectly formed with tiny claws, it's tiny mouth was pink and toothless. It was beautiful. It was also precious to see Mustache outside peering in as if he was an anxious father, hoping that everything was alright with his kitten.

My housemate went to the store and got KMR (Kitten milk replacement). Then came back and made a bottle. Feeding it right from the beginning has been an adventure. The kitten moves its tiny paws everywhere, it wiggles around in my hand, and does circles. We soon figured out that we had to hold its tiny head and poke its mouth a couple of times before it realized that we were going to feed it. The best website that I found on the subject of kittens was: "Caring For Newborn Kittens: Day One to Four Weeks Old."

On June 25th, the kitten's ears have straightened and it got its first car ride, since we took it to The Cat Protection Society to ask about raising the kitten, while Mustache sat outside watching us. One lady was very helpful and said that kittens have to be burped after each feeding along with their stuff has to be wiped gently since that can't go to the bathrooms for themselves until they're about 2 or 3 weeks old. She also said that the kitten has to be kept warm and has to be fed every 2 or 3 hours and a syringe is the easiest way to feed a newborn (the small bottle was just not working very well and this made perfect sense; the kitten was very happy with this new change since it got milk easier). Well as soon as the kitten got home, I showed the kitten to Mustache to show him that the kitten was fine, and then I fed the kitten and gave it another bath. I put the little kitten in the sink and run lukewarm water to wash it again, hoping to get the rest of the fleas off of it, and another two fleas were gone. Mustache just hang out outside.

On June 26th, when I picked up the kitten, I noticed that it didn't have its umbilical cord attached anymore, it had fallen off and just this black piece that was once attached lay close to it. The kitten had grown a little and now wanted more KMR. I went outside since I decided to go work out the gym and there was Mustache. I told Mustache that the kitten was fine and his white mustache seemed to curl up into a smile.

On June 27th, it's been a week since father's day, but Mustache's devotion astounds me. He appears every day to get news of his kitten. If all fathers were like Mustache, the world would be a different place.

Mustache's love for his kitten makes me wish that everyone would have that kind of unconditional love. Have a sunny Sunday! :0)